#!/bin/sh
#
# @(#)$Id: procs.sh,v 1.1 2001/07/03 16:38:45 sander Exp $
#
# Some helper shell functions for the contelligent import scripts.
#
# author: Robin Sander
#


#
# Processes the given variable so that it contains an absolute path afterwards.
# (obsolete '/./' sequences are also removed)
#
# This is done by simulating a 'call by reference' which means the contents of
# the first param is expected to contain the name of the variable and not the
# path to process!
# For example if a variable 'test' contains './testdir/a' and you call this
# functions with pwd=/tmp, then calling 'makeabs test' (not makeabs $test)
# will result in 'test' containing '/tmp/testdir/a'.
#
# $1 : name of the variable containing the path to process
# 
makeabs()
{
  eval tmp_contents=\$"$1"		# get the contents of the variable

  # make path absolute:
  expr "x$tmp_contents" : x/ > /dev/null || tmp_contents=`pwd`/"$tmp_contents"

  # remove obsolete '.': first replace '/./' with '/', then remove '/.' and '/' from the end
  tmp_contents=`printf '%s\n' "$tmp_contents" | sed -e 's,/\./,/,g' -e 's,/\.$,,' -e 's,/$,,'`

  eval $1="$tmp_contents"		# set var with new contents
  unset tmp_contents
}